No Boys
by karikos
Summary: Written for the Every Five Years challenge on LiveJournal. Courtney at 15 years old. Janine says she can't go to the mall.


1When she'd woken up this morning, Courtney hadn't dreamed that today could have turned out to be one of the worst days of her life to date. She'd been so optimistic about it, with the sun shining outside and plans to hang out with some friends at the mall before heading to a movie. For once, her mother was going to be the one home alone on a Saturday and deep down, that made her smile.

Courtney had rolled out of bed and into the bathroom for a shower and was already dressed, putting on mascara and lip gloss when her mother walked in the room. Without knocking, as usual. Determined not to ruin her good mood, she hadn't said anything about it, but instead focused on her eyelashes and the make up wand she'd been holding up to them.

Janine had leaned against the door frame, knowing that her daughter could see her in the mirror she was using. "You said you had plans today, baby?" she'd prodded, looking down at her fingernails.

Courtney had stopped applying her mascara and looked at Janine pointedly in the mirror. She knew that tone of voice her mother was using; she was going to have to spill every detail before being allowed to go. _Damn._ "Yeah."

"'Yeah'," her mother repeated. "What kind of plans?"

Her daughter had picked up her strawberry scented lip gloss and dipped a finger in before smoothing it over her lips. "Just going to the mall with some friends. We might go to a movie later."

She'd seen her mother's eyebrows go up as she nodded, alternating looking at her finger nails and watching Courtney's face in the mirror. "Sounds good. You'll have to call to check in every couple hours. Things happen in this town."

It had taken everything she had not to roll her eyes at Janine's last sentence, since her mother could have seen her reflection in the mirror. "I know, mom. We'll be fine."

Janine had smirked at this, causing Courtney to turn around to face her. "Will there be any boys with you today?"

She should have been prepared for that. Her mother wasn't a fan of teenage boys or men in general, especially when they were around her daughter. Courtney knew the bitterness stemmed from years ago when her father had finally walked out, only to die later, and from the boyfriends Janine had afterwards who didn't treat her as well as they should have. Her choice had been to lie and possibly get caught later or to risk it and tell her mother the truth, but she didn't get to choose either.

"You don't have to answer, the look on your face is enough." Courtney hadn't been aware that she'd had a certain look on her face, but she wasn't going to argue such a thing. "Honey, you know I don't like you going places with teenage boys..."

That had been it. "Mom, it's not just a bunch of teenage boys. It's Kate, Melanie, Andrea, Bridget and then David and Ben. Four other girls are going to be there with me. I don't see what the big deal is."

Janine's eyes had grown wide, incredulous at Courtney's words. "You don't know teenage boys like I do. First, it's hanging out at the mall, then it's putting a hand up your shirt in the dark movie theater." She'd shaken her head, exasperated that Courtney hadn't mentioned the boys earlier. "I'm sorry, baby, but I can't let you go. You're too young to be hanging around with boys. Now, if just you girls go..."

Courtney had contemplated the thought of picking up the phone and pretending to call Kate to ask her if they could go without the boys. She'd tossed that idea out of her mind; Drew and Ben were her friends, too, and she hadn't wanted to cut them out of their plans. "What if we don't go to the movies?" she'd pleaded. "We can't tell the guys they can't go to the mall, it's public property."

Janine wasn't going to move an inch. "No can do. When you're eighteen, you can spend all the time with men you want, provided you don't get yourself pregnant, but it's not going to happen under my roof. At fifteen years old, you're too young to be hanging around with some boys trying to get into your pants."

They'd argued more about it, even though Courtney had known it would get her nowhere. Her mother was stuck in her ways and her opinions about the opposite sex; the only time she considered them 'good' was when they had a ton of money Janine would try to scam off them. She'd had to call Kate, who had empathized with her, to tell her that she couldn't go after all. And she'd been so close.

Now, an hour after her mother's intrusion into her plans, she sat on her bed, watching t.v. and waiting for the dryer to stop so she could fold the clothes. She'd cried for a little while, but now she took solace in the fact that her mother had nothing to do on a Saturday, either. This was still one of the worst days of her life and she didn't see it getting any better.


End file.
